Kieran O'Donnell (Limerick City, Fine Gael) | Oireachtas source

I thank Mr. Hendrick. The first speaking slot is for a Deputy from the Fine Gael party. I will limit each speaker's time to seven minutes initially. We see then if we have time remaining at the end.

I will zoom in on two areas. Public representatives are getting queries about broadband provision every day of the week. It is a major issue on the ground. In his presentation, Mr. Hendrick referred to one major contractor having 40% of the total workforce. I read in media reports that this contractor was doing 60% of the work. Is that correct? I also read that the contractor is from the UK. What were the circumstances in which NBI ended up in a situation with a UK contractor doing 60% of the work with 40% of the workforce? Would it be fair to say that if that contractor was not confined in any way during the roll-out, it would then have been possible to have reached the target of 115,000 premises earmarked to be have been in place by the end of this year, rather than the figure of 60,000 which was achieved? When the detail is examined, is that a fair summation of why the target figure of 115,000 has not being reached this year? Would that be a fair comment?